


Through the Ages

by KaiserdeDiez



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: F/F, Night On Fic Mountain 2019, Night on Fic Mountain Exchange
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-16 05:08:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19311259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaiserdeDiez/pseuds/KaiserdeDiez
Summary: On her death bed, Joan Clayton, the Cut-Wife of Ballantrae Moor, tells Vanessa of her life. Her beginning, her rise, and her sister's fall.





	Through the Ages

**Author's Note:**

  * For [M J Holyoke (wholeyolk)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wholeyolk/gifts).



I was chasing my sister through the woods near dusk. We were young, then, though I can’t remember how old. Too many years between then and now. I don’t remember what the game was, but I do remember it was a common one between us back when there was little on our minds but our next adventure and trying our best to avoid the villagers’ attention. What was not so common was who we met that day.

Evelyn had gone charging into a clearing and quickly came to a dead stop. I took little head of what might have caused such a thing. I was too intent on catching her. I realized something was out of place when I nearly tackled my younger sister to the ground and she barely noticed.

Looking over her shoulder I saw an old woman, dressed almost haphazardly in furs, gathering herbs. Hanging from her rough clothes was an array of fetishes, charms, and other occult things. Her hair was wild and unkempt, though she was otherwise clean. We may have been surprised but she barely spared us a glance before she went back to gathering herbs in her half-full basket.

“These woods are no place for such young ones this close to night or any time for that matter. Just where’re your parents that they’d let you wander as you please?” the old hag asked without even looking up at us.

I stepped in front of my sister trying to shield her from view, not that that would have done much good by then. She’d seen us both. “Not your business, yeah?”

“Dead,” Evelyn answered. I threw an annoyed glare at her over my shoulder.

I turned my attention back to the old woman. “Besides, better here than anywhere else.”

The old woman gave me another brief glance out of the corner of her eye. “Oh? What kind of child would prefer to spend a night in the woods over a night in her village?”

I gave a casual at her question. I had grown used to putting a brave front on and I wasn’t going to stop now. “We’ve slept out here plenty of times. Nothing special about it.”

She just chuckled at my bravado. “Then I guess you don’t mind a bite from that snake right by your foot.”

Me and my sister looked to where she pointed only to find a snake, long as my arm, casually slithering past our feet. We both shrieked and began backing away from the snake as quickly as possible. The old woman just began laughing as she slowly made her way over to the creature. Calmly, casually, she reached down and grabbed it by the tail. With a practiced motion she snapped it like a whip. She continued to chuckle as the snake hung limp in her hand.

“Oh, yes. I can see that you’ve got things well in hand,” the old hag mocked. “Clearly you understand the goings on of the forest like no other.”

I could feel anger welling up at this old woman judging us not five minutes after meeting us. “What do you know about us? We’ve made it this far!”

The woman tapped the side of her nose. “I know more than you realize. I know that you’re from the village just north of here and I know that you only hide in these woods until you can’t stand the rumble of your bellies and then you go crawling back to people that hate you, begging for food. Didn’t used to be like that. Not fully. I know the villagers used to hate you for your different eyes. Thought it was a sign of curse. Then a plague came, a pox. You were unaffected, but your parents and your sister caught it. Your sister survived but your parents succumbed to the pox, but no others. Then the villagers began to hate your sister, too, and fear joined. They see you both as bad luck.”

Anger was replaced by fear and I could feel the blood drain from my face. I suddenly had the desire take us away from that woman. I grabbed for Evelyn’s hand but she pulled away from me. I could see that there was curiosity in her eyes. “How do you know that?”

The old woman smiled at Evelyn revealing old, yellowing teeth. “My secret.”

“And what are those plants for?”

She gave Evelyn a curious look. “Herbs. For healing.”

I grabbed for my sister’s arm again. “Evelyn, she’s a witch! We shouldn’t trust her!”

“Aye, girlie, you wouldn’t be wrong to call me a witch.”

Evelyn shrugged off my grip again. “Can you teach us?”

The witch grinned again. “Herb lore? Aye, I can teach you that, but that’s not what you really want. Not wholly.”

Evelyn stepped closer to the witch with an eagerness that frightened me. “Will you teach us?”

I caught my sister by the arm and dragged her back and spun her to face me. “Evelyn, we shouldn’t trust her.”

“But if someone in the village knew how to heal then Mom and Dad might still be here! And I know I want to keep that from happening to anyone else.”

I gripped Evelyn by the shoulders. “If we go with her then we are damning ourselves!”

When I looked back at the woman I saw her giving us both a long, considering look. I could feel my breathe hitch under her scrutiny. I thought for sure she was going to lay a curse on us both for little more than her own amusement. Looking back I’m not so sure she didn’t.

I don’t know how long she considered us or what she saw in us. We were just a pair of scrawny, underfed, dirty children with nowhere to go. Eventually, though, she spoke. “Aye, I could use a pair of apprentices to help with the work and there’d be a future in it for you both. It wouldn’t be great or grand, but it’d be there and a fair sight better than you have now.”

“We have plenty!” I snapped at her. “We’ve still got a place in the village, regardless of what’s happened!”

“Yes, you do,” she said calmly. “A place begging for scraps and sleeping in the cold like animals. You’d be lower than dirt in their eyes for the rest of your lives. That would be the place they’d allow you for the rest of your lives. At least I’d give you a chance to better yourselves.”

My sister gave me a pleading look. “Joan, please!”

“Alright,” I relented. I turned to look at the witch. “We would like to be your apprentices.”

The old woman nodded. “But I must warn you that what I am to teach you requires a resolute will.”

“We have that,” I told her.

“Then your first lesson starts now.” She walked over to her basket and nudged it with her foot. “Start picking herbs like what’s already in there.”

Claire. That was the name of the woman that would become our teacher. Our beginning lessons were not difficult. We hadn’t realized they were even lessons, we thought them to be chores at first. Every morning we were to go out and pick fresh herbs. We were also tasked with their proper preparation. There were other assorted chores we were in charge with, things that Claire deemed ‘too much for her old bones.’ Evelyn especially wanted to learn more of the craft faster, but she held her impatience at bay. For the time being it was enough that we had a roof over our heads and something to sleep on besides dirt. It wasn’t more than piles of straw, but it was something. It was ours.

Claire was a strict teacher. If we put an herb in the wrong place or prepared it wrong, we were both forced to use it on ourselves. Didn’t particularly matter which of us did it. If we were lucky the worst that would happen was we’d have a bad taste in our mouths. Even so, most of what we were told to pick wasn’t meant for eating or there was preparations they needed to not make you sick. There were more than a few days that we had to perform our chores while fighting off stomach cramps and worse. We were spared from having to eat anything truly deadly, but it was punishment enough. It wasn’t long before mistakes were rare.

I couldn’t say that I was especially fond of Claire’s teachings. Where Evelyn was enamored with the idea of learning what would be called witchcraft in the modern tongue I was skeptical. Where she was eager I was impatient. We had been there under her ‘apprenticeship’ for close to half a year and we had yet to learn anything more than handling herbs. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe she had powers, I was convinced of that from the first time we had met her. No, it was that I didn’t trust her and I was impatient to learn her craft as soon as I could so we could both be away from her.

If we could make our own living on the skills she taught us then we could be rid of the old woman. However, my distrust of her and what I believed to be her corrupting influence was tempered by me and my sister having a roof over our heads. It was an odd and unpleasant state to be in, constantly pulled in two directions by a need and a want that are intricately linked. My eagerness to be rid of the old woman would fade, somewhat, after my sister had a dire brush with illness.

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We were carrying water in from the river, something we’d done countless times before. Though she was smaller and not as physically strong as me she had managed to pace with me, though it took more out of her. Today, though, she was struggling, falling behind. “Hurry your ass up, Evelyn! We’ve still got so much to do before Claire gets back!”

“I’m…trying. Just…give me…a moment.” Her speech was accompanied by heavy breaths. She had been a bit slower than normal for the last day-and-a-half, but I hadn’t really paid it any attention, too intent on our work around the hut.  
“If we don’t get our chores done in time she’s taking away our supper!” My only answer was more labored breathing.

I turned to look back at my sister. She had set her bucket on the ground, bent over and trying desperately to catch her breath. “Joan...I think…I-“ Whatever else she had to say was cut off as she passed out. Panicked, I dropped my own bucket and ran to check on my sister. When I reached her I scooped her up in my arms. Suddenly I could feel the unnatural heat coming from her. It was an otherwise pleasant day but Evelyn had a sheen of sweat covering her entire body.

“Evelyn! Evelyn, wake up!” I tried to shake her awake. Her eyes peaked open slightly, just two little slivers of bleariness.

“I’m okay. Just a bit tired is all,” she told me with a weak, tired smile.

I could tell she was lying just looking at me. You didn’t need to know the girl to tell, a fool could tell she was very ill. “If you expect me to believe that this is what ‘alright’ looks like then you must be an idiot! How long have you been ill?!”

Her head lolled around slightly before her sight focused on me again. “A few days, I think?”

I leveled my sternest glare at her. I actually wanted to slap her upside her fool head, but given her condition I reluctantly decided to be merciful. “Why did you try to hide this? Claire could have helped you before it became this serious?”  
“I didn’t want you to worry. I knew if I told you I was sick then you’d worry.” Her words were heavier this time, weighed down by exhaustion.

Picking her up I carried her back to Claire’s hut. Normally I would have found her heavy, but fear and worry gave me strength I hadn’t felt before. Though we had only been half-way back to the hut it seemed like it took no time at all to bring my sister back. The entire trip was accompanied by the uncomfortable heat from her body and her labored breathing and a wet, hacking cough presented itself as a new symptom.

I laid her down on her mat. It was little more than a sack stuffed with straw, but it was enough. I had no idea what to do. Claire wouldn’t be back until near sundown and Evelyn wasn’t doing well. I knew something needed to be done, but I had no idea what to do. Memories of our parents being taken by the plague kept coming to mind and left me paralyzed with fear. Unsure of what else to do I curled up in the corner and began to weep, head resting on my knees and arms around my legs.

After some time passed my sister began to whimper. Looking up I saw her trying to get up, but she had was weak from the illness. After another hacking cough she looked at me with exhaustion on her face. “Joan.” Evelyn’s voice lacked her usual liveliness.

“Water, please.”

My sister needed my help and that thought helped me to shrug off my self-pity. I was still terrified, but I kept my attention focused on the task at hand. Such thoughts helped me keep the terror at bay.

I rushed over to where we kept the buckets of water only to remember that I had left both pails behind so that I could carry my sister back. Swearing, I went back to Evelyn’s side. “I have to go, but I’ll be back as soon as possible and with water.” Evelyn just nodded weakly. Standing, I reluctantly left my sister’s side and ran to fetch the water I had left.

It was a route I had quickly grown familiar with, one both me and my sister had taken to and from the river every other day and the water pails had only been left at the half-way point but the trip still felt twice as long as it was. When I finally reached the buckets again I gathered them up and headed back as quickly as I could without spilling all of the water.

The second I stepped through the door I set the buckets on either side of the door. I grabbed the nearest empty cup and hurried over to Evelyn’s side. I helped her sit up so she could drink properly and she greedily gulped down the water with another cup-full following.

When her thirst was sated I set down the cup and tried to think of my next course of action. I knew there were herbs in the hut that could help. I hurriedly went through all of the green bundles trying to recall each one’s properties at a glance. Picking out a few I began preparing each one, even thought I hardly thought about it.

When I was done I returned to Evelyn’s side and handed her a wad of leaves. “Eat these, they’ll help with your fever.” When Evelyn looked at the wad a look of recognition passed over her face and she began chewing the leaves.

In the meantime I returned to the dried herbs and began grinding another bunch into a powder, releasing a strong, pungent smell. Then I mixed with a little water to create a paste. My sister’s ragged coughing accompanied every action. I went back over to my sister and began smearing the paste under her nose. She knew better than to wipe at it regardless of how much it might bother her nose for it would help her breathing improve.

Once Evelyn’s immediate symptoms had been seen to I returned to doing as much of our chores as I could by myself. I would periodically return to her side and administer more herbs as needed. During that time Evelyn drifted in and out of sleep. Silently, grudgingly, I gave thanks to Claire for what she had taught me. It was a concession I had made to myself and myself alone, a private confession.


End file.
